Blad 119 uit Stamboek van de leerlingen der Koloniale School voor Meisjes en Vrouwen te 's-Gravenhage deel II (1930-1949) Possibly 1939

This page, number 119, comes from a register made between 1930-1949 at the Colonial School for Girls and Women in The Hague. The marks here, of handwriting in ink, follow the regimented rules of administrative documents: Lines and columns, everything in its place. But within that rigidity, there’s also a kind of beauty, like the differences in pressure of the nibs, the way the ink pools in places or dries out elsewhere, and the different hands making the marks. Each signature has its own rhythm. The loops and crosses are bold, the small differences in letterforms revealing character. It’s the interplay of the system and the individual that catches my eye. The small photograph pasted in adds an interesting contrast to the rest of the composition, a touch of personal memory within the institutional framework of the school register. It makes me think of Hanne Darboven, whose conceptual works use seriality and repetition as a way to understand time and history. Art helps us see these details, these ghosts in the machine.